Battle Creek, MI Youth pastor at Chapel Hill United Methodist Church faces sex charges

[Ian David]

A Battle Creek youth pastor was arrested Wednesday on charges of using a computer to solicit a child for sex, the Michigan attorney general's office said.

Troy Deal, 34, director of youth ministries at Chapel Hill United Methodist Church, was arrested Wednesday morning following an investigation that began in 2005.

Investigators said he used a computer to suggest sex with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl. He actually was corresponding with an investigator from the AG's Child Public Protection Unit.

He was arrested at the church, 157 Chapel Hill Drive, and taken to the Calhoun County jail by investigators from the AG's office and Battle Creek police. He is expected to be arraigned in Calhoun County District Court this afternoon.

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[B3Nut]

1. Wow, I've played there before with a band I was in...

several years ago. The senior pastor is a childhood friend of my dad's...really nice guy. I feel bad for him, he is doubtless shocked at this. You just never know, it seems...

Todd in Cheesecurdistan, ex-Battle Creek resident

[Ian David]

2. Update: Church shocked at youth pastor's charges

Updated: July 19, 2007 08:33 PM

BATTLE CREEK - A church community expressed shock Thursday night after learning the youth minister was charged with soliciting online to who he thought was a minor.

Pastor Jim Gysel of the Chapel Hill United Methodist Church said Troy Deal, the man facing the allegations, is not the man he and the community have known for the past five years.

<snip>

State investigators say he used a computer at the church to talk to minors online. Deal thought he was chatting with a 14-year-old girl when he asked for pornographic material and made inappropriate comments, but he was really talking to an undercover investigator.

<snip>

Gysel describes Deal as a man of faith with a sense of humor who was devoted to his church, so the charges are difficult to handle.

The other man facing similar charges is Richard Dehaan of Kalamazoo.

More:
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Also:

Sex charges unsettle church
Stephanie Antonian Rutherford
The Enquirer

Members of Chapel Hill United Methodist Church are trying to cope after allegations that their youth pastor, Troy Deal, went online to solicit a child for sex.

Deal, 34, of Battle Creek, was arraigned Thursday on 11 counts of using a computer to solicit a minor for sex and accosting a child for immoral purposes.

Deal, the director of youth ministries at Chapel Hill, was arrested Wednesday morning following an attorney general's investigation that began in 2005.

<snip>

Deal, who is married and has two children — a 4-year-old and a two-month-old — also is under court order not to use a computer, have Internet access or have any unsupervised contact with a minor while on bond.

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